


The Contract

by queenofblades



Category: Ghost (Sweden Band)
Genre: Angst, Death, Love Confessions, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-25
Updated: 2019-04-25
Packaged: 2020-01-31 14:44:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18593398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queenofblades/pseuds/queenofblades
Summary: Papa Emeritus The Third came to the terms of his end, but didn't had the nerve to be completely honest with Copia





	The Contract

**Author's Note:**

> Hewwo. This is my first Ghost fanfic. English is not my first language so please, I'm soft, don't yell at me

The sound of his steps echoed through the empty halls, while fumbling with five or six pages of a deadly contract. They were stapled together but he just gave himself the freedom of stacking in the back the ones that were important, leaving in the front the one page meant to be signed. He stared at his own signature; his handwriting was pristine and elegant, and next to it, the blank space for the Cardinal. The idea of this looking like divorce papers amused him.  
He stared at his watch while standing at he door of his office. He knew it was late at night, he knew how much work the Cardinal had to put up with, he knew he would stay awake until one or two a.m. Emeritus knocked on his door twice, loud and clear, and placed both of his hands behind his back.  
"It's open"  
He took that as an invitation and, without hesitation, stepped inside.  
"Cardinal Copia" he exclaimed while standing in front of the other man, as soon as he noticed the Cardinal didn't looked up; his eyes were fixated on the forms laying on his desk, his left hand holding his forehead and his right one writing frantically. His eyes finally met Papa's and the man could sense how much he hated his guts, maybe because they looked exhausted, or just because, maybe, probably, he really hated him.  
"Your Unholiness, I apologize, I didn't noticed Your presence" Copia greeted. His eyelids were heavy, hardly being able to keep his eyes open. He didn't smiled; after a fair amount of years, he stopped pretending he liked the younger man of the Emeritus bloodline, yet he was quite polite. He HAD to be polite. He was the new Papa after all.  
"Don't worry, Cardi"  
"What can I help You with?" he asked with a sigh, putting down his pen and placing both hands on his desk, palms open against the wood, tapping an unrecognizable rhythm.  
"Some papers. Imperator forgot to send you this one" the young Pope answered, stretching his hand with the papers, ready to get it signed, while his other hand rested behind his back. "Just- put your autograph and that's pretty much it"  
"Oh, that- that's quite a long form". At the moment the Cardinal tried to take away the contract from Emeritus hands, the Pope gripped the paper sheets tighter. Copia looked up at Emeritus and then the papers. "Your Unholiness"  
"Hmm?"  
"Could you, please-?"  
"No, I couldn't"  
"I need to read the thing". Copia tried again to take it away, yet the grip of Papa's hand was strong enough.   
"I just need you to sign, Cardi, it's not too much".   
The Cardinal placed both hands again on the desk, staring confused/annoyed at the paper. He glared back at Emeritus, as he held his forehead, mumbling some nonesense, before, finally, being able to speak like a normal person. "Your Unholiness, there's two options; give me the papers, or I'll head to bed. It's two a.m."  
"I'm saving you some time, Cardi..." Emeritus looked around the office; just a black lamp on the desk being the only source of light, the rest of the room was almost pitch black. A large bookshelf next behind the Cardinal's chair that looked messy and recently used. Hell, even Copia himself looked bad, dishevelled... which it was strange to Emeritus. The younger man sat on the Cardinal's desk, and stared around the amount of papers around him, placing the contract on his lap. "As soon as you sign this, I'll let you be free. But, if you wanna go and have some sleep, I'm not stopping you. But don't say I didn't warned you. If this wasn't an urgent matter, Imperator wouldn't have sent me here. I just want you to write your name, right-" He looked at the paper and placed his finger on the blank "- here."  
"I won't sign anything that I haven't read. That thing could say anything. What if Sister Imperator is trying to fire me?" the Cardinal answered. He crossed his arms while leaning back on his chair.  
"Cardi, look over here. I signed. Trust me, it's nothing". Copia took a couple of minutes before exhaling, getting closer to the desk in front of him and, finally, signing. Emeritus smiled in a smug way, like a child who got away with what he wanted. "That's a good boy Cardi right there."  
"Your Unholiness, my name's Copia"  
"Sure, Cardi" he nodded and winked at the clearly stressed Cardinal, while he rolled the papers. Emeritus crossed the door after wishing him "a pleasant night". The Cardinal didn't answered.

\------------------------

The deadline was basically around the corner and Papa couldn't keep his mind clear. He came to the terms that dying wasn't the worst case scenario; it was normal, it would only happen to him sooner than anyone else, that's it. Since the day he was announced publicly as the leader of the Satanic Church, he knew his days were numbered. Accepting his fate wasn't the rough part, since day 1 he knew there wasn't much left in his life except for his devotion to Satan.  
Until those years went by. Until everyday of those months were spent trying to get to know the Cardinal. The Cardinal who, he could have sworn, hated his guts and would not hesitate if he had to kill him. Those days began to give him a purpose beyond religion, which was quite something. He found something that kept him going, that forced him to get out of bed early, get a cup of coffee for the eternally stressed Cardinal, and talk until he had some serious business to attend. Copia was the alluring force on him. His awkwardness was always charming, his rants and lack of common sense were now utterly adorable traits, even the constantly sad expression he had in his mismatched eyes would cause something very similar to inner peace in Emeritus' heart.  
Now Copia had to end his life, in order to begin his own papacy. Now he had to face the consequences...  
Emeritus shook the thoughts away, while standing before the altar, listening to the bells chiming at midnight. "Exactly 24 hours left" he whispered, while lightning a couple of candles; it relaxed him, it made him feel less alone. Lucifer was a great company whenever his mind was uneased.  
His peace lasted as long as the candles' lights; the doors were opened with such force, the flames got blown away.  
"Emeritus" the familiar voice behind his back called, yet he didn't turned around. He closed his eyes, asking Satan for strenght to deal with the truth. "Alessandro" he insisted, louder, commanding him to turn around. His footsteps were almost stomping his way towards Emeritus; the Cardinal, who always looked sad and exhausted and awkward turned into a completely different person. It didn't mattered how taller Emeritus was, he felt small in front of Copia now. He couldn't face him. The bells stopped after a full minute.  
"Cardinal, I-"  
"You what, Alessandro? Look at me" Copia's voice broke mid sentence. "LOOK AT ME"  
Slowly, Emeritus turned around, and the first thing he noticed was the crumbled paper on Copia's left hand. It was the contract. He finally spoke, regardless of the knot on his throat. "Copia, I know this is confusing-"  
"This is not confusing, Alessandro, you made me sign a paper that says that I have to kill you, what the fuck is this?"  
"Copia, I know this is hard to do, let alone understand. I decided to live a life fully dedicated to my beliefs and that's how I'm leaving..." He tried to look into Copia's eyes, but the Cardinal kept looking anywhere but his painted face. As far as he could notice, his saddened eyes were as red as his cassock; black tears trails made their way down on his cheeks. "Raffaelle, did you read the whole-"  
"Did you always knew?". The menacing tone in his voice froze Emeritus' heart immediately. For a moment, he considerated how curious it was being scared of letting the man down instead of his own death. Those minutes he spend thinking were silent. "SAY IT"  
"...yes."  
"Why?". Copia was shaking, his jaw was tense and he couldn't help his reflex of biting the inside of his cheek.   
"What?"  
"Alessandro, I love you" he suddenly confessed, looking into Papa's eyes. Emeritus was caught with his guard down, his lips slightly parted in shock, trying to think anything to say or do. Yet, Copia didn't gave him enough time. "And I hate it, because none of this would have happened if you didn't presented yourself that night, with this fucking paper. I can't do it."  
"Copia, I- I'm fully aware of the fact I have to die. I won't feel pain, you'll become the next leader-"  
"Listen, Emeritus. I don't care. If keeping you alive means to sacrifice my beliefs, my job and reputation, then so be it. I'm not stayin' to see your head roll" With that being said, Copia turned around, heading back to where he came from.  
"Have you read the whole thing? You can't escape, Raffaelle!"  
The doors slammed behind his back.

\----------------

The Cardinal decided he had to run away. He didn't packed any belongings; no one had to know about it, the only thing he would carry on him were the clothes he was wearing and a toothbrush he hid underneath his cassock. He groaned every time he had to wipe away aggressively a couple of tears with the back of his sleeves. Luckily at those hours, he didn't had to bump into someone, to pretend he was okay.  
He walked down a hallway that lead to the entrance, yet the younger one was waiting for him there, arms crossed in front of his chest, resting against a wooden wall. "Copia, you can't leave"  
"I don't have another choice", he mumbled as he tried to walk past him, yet he felt Papa's hand grabbing his arm. He pulled him close to his body, almost feeling the Cardinal's stomach against his particularly flat one.  
"Copia, you read that. They're going to find you, and kill you, and I can't let you do that"  
The older one shook his head, freeing himself from Papa's grip on his arm."So be it" he mumbled, looking up at him. "I truly don't mind anymore. If I escape, I won't be able to see you anymore so dying is the least of my problems from now on. I've lived longer than you. I'm old, I'm tired, and useless. You still got a lot to do and give and live"  
"Please, don't say that" Emeritus shook his head, clossing his eyes. "Caro mio, you don't understand, you're not what you think you are. I prepared myself for my end, so I'm okay with this-"  
"Alessandro, I am not okay with this, please". At the moment Copia bursted into tears, his shaky hands reached out to Emeritus' face, holding it softly. Both pair of eyes stared deeply into each other with horror, and sadness. "I don't want to face my life without you, not this way. I don't care about being Papa Something-something, I don't care of how much you prepared yourself, this is not okay!". Papa wrapped quickly his arms around the Cardinal, petting his hair and slightly rocking his body to the sides, shushing and kissing him every chance he had.  
"Shh... stop crying, amore. I know this is all quite fucked up and you're in a hard position, but please, stop crying...". Copia, who hours ago seemed like a giant menacing demon storming though the door of the catedral was now a sobbing mess, burying his face against Papa's chest. He finally hugged him back, weakly, yet he could let him go. "I could blame Imperator or the contract for all of this, but this is all my fault. At the time I signed it, I didn't had much to lose except my empty life, which wasn't something I wanted to cling off for a long time. I was very empty, amore mio... and then I met you"  
The Cardinal hugged him tighter, as he wanted to protect the man from his inevitable fate.  
"I met you and suddenly, I felt scared. Not because I'm scared of death; I truly don't care. I was scared of how would you feel. I was scared for you, blaming yourself forever for this. I don't want you to feel that way, Raffaelle"  
"Then stop all of this madness"  
"We both can't, we're not safe. They would find any of us, and the inevitable will happen, and none of us would stand that... So..." He pulled him away, to show his face, to prove what he actually meant. He took Copia's left hand and pressed his wrist against his lips, placing a long kiss on it "...I rather to die by your hand. The last glimpse I want of this place, this Earth, is your face, caro mio,"  
With the last he had of his raspy, broken voice, Copia asked the only question he had left to say. "Now what?"  
"Now, it's our time to say our long goodbye. We will get to my chambers, we will share some wine. I will see you naked for the first time, and I know you're going to be the most perfect thing I've seen in my life. We will make love, for the first and last time, again and again and again. And we will share a bed for the first time, and stay up all night. Whatever that happens tomorrow is a problem for the future 'us', but right now, dear, I crave you so much, you don't even know..."

"I love you, Copia"  
"I love you too, Emeritus"


End file.
